should meet a threshold of more likely than not as our standard. the facts presented do not mean that professor ford was not sexually assaulted that night or at some other time, but they do lead me to conclude that the allegations failed to meet the more likely than not standard. therefore, i do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent judge kavanaugh from serving on the court. garrett haake, was susan collins endorsement and yes vote of brett kavanaugh a big surprise, or was it a position and a lean, an inclination she had and simply kept close, kept in confidence? i think the latter.
today we have come to the conclusion of a confirmation process that has become so dysfunctional it looks more like a caricature of a gutter level political campaign. joining us now, somebody who knows a lot about the history of gutter level political campaigns, john meacham, political historian. did we make history in the animosity, not just partisan divides, but gender divides in this country over the nomination fight of judge brett kavanaugh? i think we reached historic levels of exacerbation of those levels absolutely. one of the things that i find so interesting about senator collins speech is she was voting to confirm a vision of brett kavanaugh that had far more inspect common with susan collins than it does with judge kavanaugh. if you take the first part of
place where we need to be thinking again about the credibility and the integrity of our institutions. eli is with us. eli stokols, the white house has to be celebrating this vote as a major victory. but do you think they re aware of the anguish? you heard it in lisa murkowski s voice in people covering this story, from otherwise stoic reporters doing their best to cover this fairly and objectively. any sense the white house, sort of the pressure that they put on the senate and even on some of their most stalwart allies? well, they are celebrating at this moment. i think there s a huge sense of relief after senator collins said those words at the end of the speech that she d be a yes vote on judge kavanaugh. but, yes, they were aware of what murkowski, of the anguish she felt but they seem mainly aware of it in the way it related to them and their chances of winning or losing this fight. they ve looked at all of this through that same lens which is
inauguration speech about human carnage when i watched professor ford, whose life has been destroyed since this incident, obviously, who overcame that trauma and testified before the country and the world, and judge kavanaugh s life will never be what it was before. what do you make of this moment in just human carnage and human calamity? i ve had a window that i would trade with anyone on earth into what this has done to the kavanaughs and their circle of friends and their people who support and love him and i ve had a window into what this has done to womens who are sexual assault victims themselves and everyone is gutted. it s brutal. you re exactly right, one of the things we have to remember in all these moments is that these aren t caricatures, these aren t cardboard people, they are flesh and blood human beings. most of the time they re trying to do the best they can through
should behave, powerful men should behave when accused of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual misbehavior. and it also gives you an insight into the playbook this white house and largely republicans on capitol hill followed in defending judge kavanaugh. we saw him today have to come out with that op-ed in the wall street journal where he tried to explain away his tone, but the truth is, he was doing exactly what the president wanted him to do, which was to be fiery and to be defiant and to be outraged and another key moment that the president also said in another rally that got a lot of attention was when he mocked dr. ford, one of the accusers, and people in the president s orbit and on capitol hill will tell you that privately, it wasn t a planned strategy. the president sort of saw a moment and, as he often, does he seized it. but they believe that was actually a positive thing, despite all the blowback. they think it helped galvanize the base, help bolster